Dr. Marisa Colston and Dr. Lynette Carlson at the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society awards ceremony. Photo courtesy of Dr. Lynette Carlson.
Long before Dr. Lynette Carlson joined the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga faculty, one of her professors saw something in her.
Now, Carlson, an associate professor and director of clinical education for athletic training, has been named the Jerry Robertson Educator of the Year by the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society.
“It was a great surprise,” Carlson said. “There have been a lot of really great educators on that list, so I was surprised and felt honored to be part of that list.”
The award recognizes Carlson’s work teaching future athletic trainers. It also ties together two parts of her UTC story: first as a student, then as a faculty member.
Carlson earned her master’s degree in athletic training from UTC in 2002, when post-certification graduate athletic training programs were still relatively limited. She said Chattanooga stood out because of the faculty, especially Dr. Marisa Colston.
“When I researched the program and the area, the geographical location was appealing to me,” Carlson said. “But I chose Chattanooga because of my interaction with the faculty. And one of those faculty was Marisa Colston. She was the program director, and she is who I interviewed with.”
Carlson said Colston made an early comment that stayed with her.
“Dr. Colston said to me, ‘At graduation, you’re going to go get your doctorate, right?’” Carlson recalled. “I thought it was absurd that she said that, but she did plant that seed in me. She was the first one to ever say that to me.”
About a decade later, Carlson began work on a doctorate in health sciences. Over time, Colston went from her professor and mentor to colleague and friend.
Colston said Carlson’s potential as an educator showed up during her time as a student.
“There was just something about her presence and her demeanor,” Colston said. “She really cared about everybody being elevated.”
Colston said she asked Carlson to serve as a teaching assistant in cadaver anatomy while she was still in the program.
“She was just outstanding working with her peers and helping them. For instance, she was leading them to an answer but not spoon-feeding them and giving them the answer,” Colston said. “You rarely see that in someone so early in their higher education career and their career in general.”
A certified athletic trainer since 2000, Carlson joined the UTC faculty in 2016—first as an adjunct instructor, then in full-time and tenure-track roles.
She said coming into higher education felt like a second career, but one built on years of clinical work.
“From the very beginning, I’ve always considered myself an educator because we’re always educating patients,” Carlson said. “We’re educating athletes. We’re educating coaches. We’re educating on the healthcare system and people’s injuries and so forth.”
That clinical background shapes how she teaches. Carlson remains a practicing clinician and regularly draws on those experiences in class.
“I’ll start class frequently and say, ‘This is what I saw last night at roller derby practice,’ and we’ll talk through scenarios,” she said. “I think it’s helpful for students to see how I practice and how the knowledge that I portray to them is working in the field. I think that’s a really important connection.”
Carlson acknowledged the honor felt a little early.
“I still feel young in my academic career,” she said. “Technically, I’ve only been a full-time professor for seven years. I came into education as kind of a second career.”
Students, she said, are part of what keeps the work fresh.
“They have different views,” she said. “It happens frequently that a student will ask a question that I never thought of in that way.”
Because she teaches courses that include communication and culturally competent care, those perspectives matter to her.
“I want the students’ perspectives. I want their backgrounds. I want to know their experiences,” Carlson said. “They will frequently bring up topics or questions that I never considered.”
Colston said Carlson stands out not only as a teacher but also in her work overseeing clinical placements.
“She’s the best clinical education coordinator that I’ve seen,” Colston said. “She’s just so good and gifted at that. She personally goes out to these sites. She talks with the preceptor. She observes. They just love her and the students do as well.”
Colston also pointed to Carlson’s teaching approach, including the use of graphic novels and other methods to help students think through subtle bias and inclusive care.
For Carlson, the people tied to the award made the recognition even more meaningful.
Colston wrote one of the recommendation letters supporting Carlson’s nomination. Another came from Robbie Williams, a longtime Chattanooga-area athletic trainer and Carlson’s first supervisor. Williams was also the person who called to tell her she had won.
“It was really special to get that phone call from him,” Carlson said.
She also pointed to Dr. Gary Wilkerson, one of her former professors and a current colleague, along with fellow UTC faculty members Dr. Shellie Acocello and Dr. Jenny Hogg, as important parts of her work.
“We co-teach a lot of our classes, and we help one another out with our pedagogy,” Carlson said. “We throw ideas like, ‘Oh, I think I want to do this,’ or ‘Have you done that?’ We help out one another, kind of explore and continue to have our students excel in the program.”
The Jerry Robertson Educator of the Year Award is named for former East Tennessee State University head athletic trainer Jerry Robertson, who is credited with helping establish the first undergraduate athletic training education program in Tennessee. It recognizes an athletic trainer in the educational setting whose dedication and service to athletic trainers or athletic training students reflect a commitment to learning and teaching in the profession.
Learn more
UTC Graduate Athletic Training Program
